Tuesday, 27 February 2018

There are numerous technologies involved in hosting a website, most of which are unknown to its users. In the recipe for good website performance, every aspect counts. After all, the use of the internet grows along with the expectation of the public, who increasingly expect a fast and efficient navigation.

Among the technologies involved, one of them concerns the storage of data. Traditionally, the servers use hard drives for this – the famous HD, equally present in personal computers. But a few years ago a new technology came on the scene and is changing for the better not only our personal computers but also servers, being present more and more in large data centers. We’re talking about SSD drives.

In this article, we will find out what SSD is, its features and the benefits that this storage technology can bring to your hosting.

What is SSD

The acronym for SSD is Solid State Drive. Also known as a flash disk, this device is used to store data permanently and can be found on both personal computers and servers.

The SSDs represent an improvement compared to the traditional hard drive, or HDD (Hard Disk Drive). Both devices are designed to store data permanently, that is so that the information is preserved even if the computer is turned off and disconnected from the power supply.

But then, what’s the difference between an HDD and an SSD? To find out the answer, it is necessary to understand the characteristics of each of them, as we will see next.

Features of an HDD

An HDD (Hard Disk Drive), also known as HD or simply hard drive, has one or more rotating disks and a mechanical arm. The discs are made of metal and have a magnetic layer, thus allowing the recording of the data. At the tip of the arm, there is an electromagnetic sensor, responsible for reading and writing the data on the disk. In order for information to be recorded or retrieved, the disc needs to rotate and the player needs to be positioned in the exact location where the information is/will be recorded.

The read/write time of the information in a traditional HD will be determined mainly by the speed of the disk rotation. On personal computers, it is common to find HDs from 5400 to 7200 RPM (rotations per minute). On servers, disks up to 15,000 RPM are common.

In addition to the issue of spin speed, the problem of data fragmentation also needs to be considered. In traditional HD, data recording is done on specific areas of the magnetic disk, called sectors. Because of this architecture, a single file can be stored in parts scattered throughout the hard drive, physically distant from one another. This leads to an even slower reading of the data. To resolve this problem, you need to “defragment” the data from time to time. Modern operating systems do this regularly, without the user having to start the procedure. Still, this can be a problem when the disk is too full, close to its full capacity.

Features of an SSD

Unlike an HDD, a solid state disk (SSD) has no moving parts and all information is recorded and accessed in an electronic circuit. Its architecture is similar to that of a pen drive. However, the speed of access to information is greater than that found on this device. Recording and accessing data is faster on the SSD and there is no problem with having fragmented files in your memory because the access speed is the same anywhere on the device.

To get an idea of its performance, the data access speed on an SSD is 0.2 milliseconds, while it can reach 20 milliseconds on an HDD*. This difference may seem small since we are talking about milliseconds. But when it comes to accessing and storing a large amount of data, the performance gain can be significant.

SSD was invented decades after the HDD and only about 10 years ago computer manufacturers began to use it on a large scale. The cost has always been a decisive issue for those who need to opt for one of these technologies. In general, the cost of an SSD is higher than that of an HDD. But fortunately, with the evolution of technology, this difference has been reduced to much more affordable levels.

Advantages

As you may have deduced, SSD has several advantages over traditional HD. Let’s know the main ones below. It is important to mention that the features listed here consider the SSD both for home use, such as personal computers and for corporate use, such as servers and data centers.

One of the most acclaimed advantages of SSD over HDD is speed. As previously mentioned, the access/record time of information on an SSD can be 10 times faster when compared to traditional HD. That’s why many people migrate from HDD to SSD.

In addition to the speed issue, an SSD also has, when compared to an HDD, lower power consumption, and practically zero noise, since it has no moving parts. As previously mentioned, data fragmentation is not a problem with SSDs, since reading data stored anywhere in memory is accessed as quickly.

Resistance to vibrations and drops is also higher on SSD. Because it has a read arm, the HDD can be damaged and/or data can be lost if it is shaken or has any impact during operation. This does not apply to SSD, making this device much tougher than an HDD.

Disadvantages

The storage capacity of a solid state drive is generally less than that found in a traditional hard drive. While it is common to find 1 Terabyte HDDs for home use, SSDs rarely go from 256 Gigabytes to computers with similar specifications. It is true that this difference has been reduced and it is possible to find SSDs of up to 1 Terabyte for the final consumer, but the cost is still higher than an HDD.

That way, the cost per Gigabyte is higher on SSDs, which brings us to another point that can be considered a disadvantage: the price. The cost difference between an HDD and an SSD, however, has been declining over time. It is most significant when it comes to personal computers. When it comes to services such as website hosting, this cost is diluted along with a number of other aspects inherent to the business and does not make much difference.

Let us understand a little better why to use an SSD hosting!

SSD Hosting: why use?

In the same way that SSD technology has reached the general public, the corporate market has also been enjoying the benefits of using SSD. Thus, it is increasingly common to find companies offering SSD storage on their servers, either as an optional or as standard at all level.

The great advantage of using an SSD hosting is speed. Reduced access time to data can make a lot of difference in sites and applications that perform many requests to the server and/or database.

Remember that in a hosting company, SSD storage can be used on both the file server and the database server. Therefore, it is possible to gain performance in various aspects of hosting.

For whom SSD hosting is indicated

Any site or application that performs a high number of read and write on the server and/or database can benefit from an SSD hosting. In this group, we can mainly include virtual stores, database applications or any online service whose speed of loading and processing of data is important to the business, high-traffic sites, and sites, including those built with content management platforms such as WordPress, Joomla, Magento, and others, are strong candidates for using this technology.

Static, low-traffic, non-high-performing sites to serve your audience may not have to worry about using this kind of feature. However, in an increasingly instant world, the good performance of a website is not only expected but can be instrumental in creating a good impression on your target audience.

Of course, the good performance of a website is linked to several factors, such as having an optimized application, enough RAM, using features such as cache and CDN, among others.

Saturday, 24 February 2018

These days, you simply can't be too careful when it comes to the security of your data. Unfortunately, attacks happen every day, and websites of all scopes and sizes are being targeted. If you have a dedicated server, you're already better off in terms of security than you would be with many other types of hosting. Still, there are some steps you should be taking to add security to your dedicated server wherever possible.

Keep Things Up-to-Date

Start by making an effort to check for security updates and patches on a regular basis. This should be done manually at least a few times a week. Don't rely on your software to let you know when an update is available; being proactive will ensure that updates are installed as soon as possible once they become available and will reduce your chances of falling victim to an attack.

Only Use Trusted Networks

When signing into your hosting account with your credentials, make sure that you're using a trusted network. This means you should avoid logging into your hosting account when signed into a public wireless network or other unsecured network. Furthermore, make sure that any other users who have accounts are informed of this protocol.

Opt for DDoS Protection

DDoS attacks are becoming increasingly common, so there has never been a better time to have DDoS protection added to your dedicated hosting account. This will protect you against attacks that can otherwise bring your server down through the use of illegitimate traffic flooding. A DDoS protection plan will provide an added layer of protection that essentially "filters" through your traffic to ensure that only legitimate visitors are allowed in. DDoS protection options are available to protect against attacks of varying sizes, ranging from about 10 gbps to 100 gbps or more!

Back Up Data Regularly

Even when you take all the security precautions you can, it's possible for attacks and other security vulnerabilities to occur. With this in mind, it's always a good idea to have a backup plan in place. Specifically, you should be taking the time to back up all your most important data at least once a week, and perhaps more. This way, if something were to happen to your site, you could at least restore it to its previous state with the backup data you have saved.

Consider a Managed Server

If the idea of handling all these security responsibilities seems a little overwhelming, one of the best things you can do for yourself is actually to consider a managed server instead. With a managed server, you'll have your own administrator who will handle all the important aspects of protecting your security. From installing updates to backing up data regularly, these admins can save you a lot of time and hassle.

These are just a few of the most important steps you can take to boost security on your dedicated server. If you're not already following these guidelines, now is the time to implement them as a part of your everyday server and website maintenance tasks.

Thursday, 22 February 2018

In an era of tight budgets many businesses, from enterprise level to small and medium sized business, are looking for efficient new ways to manage their web hosting needs. The hosting environment is changing, and some are now looking beyond traditional setups, and into the possibilities of cloud hosting.

Traditional Hosting

Traditional hosting comes mainly in two forms, dedicated and shared. With dedicated hosting, a company pays for the complete resources of one or more servers from a service provider. The client has a set amount of dedicated bandwidth, CPU, RAM, and drive space, and the client has full control over the servers resources.

With shared hosting, which is more common among small and medium sized businesses, the client pays for a set amount of space (storage) on a single server, and that server’s resources are shared by a number of other websites. It’s a cost-efficient, low-maintenance way to host a website or application, and the hosting company is responsible for managing, maintaining, and updating the units.

Traditional hosting, especially shared hosting, has its drawbacks though. Because the resources of a single server are shared among a number of different websites, spikes in traffic to those websites can mean decreased performance for your own. Security breaches and other performance issues on other sites make take yours down as well. And there’s a single point of failure. If the server itself experiences technical problems, everyone hosted on that server will be affected.

With shared hosting, you’re also paying for a set amount of storage and processing power. If you have a predictable flow of traffic, this may be a good solution for you. But if your traffic is increasing rapidly, or if you see sudden spikes in traffic due to a new product or feature, you may be constrained the amount of storage you currently have.

You will need to adapt by purchasing additional server space to add to your storage space and processing power. But if traffic falls again, you will be paying for resources that you aren’t using.

Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting offers a level of scalability that traditional hosting can’t. Cloud hosting companies provide virtual space on an on-demand, as-needed basis. Instead of paying for a set amount of space upfront on a single server, the user pays as they go for what they actually use.

With cloud hosting, the load is balanced across a cluster of multiple servers. The information and applications contained on those servers are mirrored across the whole cluster, meaning that if an individual server goes down, there is no lost information or downtime. Because of this redundancy, cloud hosting is much more elastic and resilient. Problems with one website or application are unlikely to affect your bandwidth or performance.

Cloud hosting companies provide Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS). They house, run, and maintain all of the necessary hardware, and the customer pays for the resources the use, similar to how we pay for utilities like electricity.

IT departments don’t need to invest in in-house server hardware. And customers don’t need to pay for up front for extra storage or processing capacity that they don’t use. Cloud hosting is more quickly scalable than traditional hosting. If an application or website receives more or less traffic, the cloud servers scale up and down automatically. With cloud hosting, there’s no need to manually add or remove server space as there is in shared hosting.

Cloud hosting is still a relatively new technology, and many who have experience with traditional hosting are hesitant to move to something different. Shared hosting provides consumers with a convenient, low-entry hosting solution, and many users never experience problems. But if you’re looking for a low-cost, flexible, easily scalable hosting solution, it may be time to move to the cloud.

Tuesday, 20 February 2018

Choosing between Windows server, Linux and UNIX can be a difficult task. Each has their own distinct features and functionality that can cater to the different needs of each individual out there.

What is Windows server?

The Windows server is basically a server operating system that was created by Microsoft. With Windows server, it can provide you with easy management with the help of its interface. It also supports major web programming languages as well as databases such as MySQL, PHP, MS SQL and ASP.NET.

Why choose Windows Server?

If you will use Windows server, there are a number of benefits that you will enjoy. The Windows server was exclusively developed and offered by Microsoft, thus continuous support and updates are provided. Individuals who are already familiar with Windows will find it easy to use the Windows server. Majority of users utilizing the Microsoft server hosting utilize the Active Server Pages (ASP) technology. Apparently, this is the main reason why a lot of individuals are turning to Windows server hosting. Additionally, users can even develop a website utilizing the interface of Microsoft tools such as Visual Interdev, Microsoft FrontPage and Microsoft Access. With the help of ASP, you can easily develop a website that is driven by a database utilizing Microsoft Access or Microsoft SQL as the database.

Drawbacks of Windows server

If compared to UNIX, Windows server requires a lot of system resources. It is important to utilize a powerful machine if you want to run Windows server efficiently. In terms of stability, Windows server was not able to garner a good standing. For those who are using the Windows server hosting, additional costs will be allotted for the development tools that are mostly Microsoft products. The price of the applications that you use on your website can cost higher than UNIX.

Difference between Windows server and UNIX

Both UNIX and Microsoft server are operating systems. The Windows server and UNIX are mainly utilized as enterprise application servers that are vital for various purposes including, but not limited to email, web and even database hosting. The Windows server was created by Microsoft thus gaining the head role in their software solutions. As for UNIX, it was considered as an open system in which its source code is available to the public. Just take note that both operating systems are ideal for web hosting. It is important to learn the differences between the two so that you can choose wisely.

◈ Windows server is capable of supporting majority of Microsoft products including Microsoft FrontPage.
◈ Windows server supports Active Server Pages (ASP) which is a well-known programming that enables you to construct database-driven and dynamic web pages.
◈ Most of the CGI programs available online were developed on UNIX platforms, thus they are easily installed under UNIX.

Why Linux is better than Windows server

It cannot be denied that Linux is ideally suited to be used as a server than Windows. Understandably, it stands out from Windows server in various ways.

◈ Stability is the main aspect that makes Linux the ideal option since it can run for years without any failure. In reality, majority of Linux users never experienced a crash. Linux is also capable of handling numerous processes at once. In terms of rebooting, changes in the configurations in Windows server would require one while Linux will not require any restarting anymore. This is due to the fact that changes in the configurations in Linux are carried out even if the system is running.

◈ Since Linux is based on UNIX, it was designed as a multi-user operating system. It is only the administrator or root user who enjoys administrative privileges, thus keeping the security level high. Another aspect of security is that Linux is attacked at a lesser rate by malware and viruses.

◈ In terms of the hardware, Windows require regular hardware updates to comply with its resource demands. As for Linux, it is scalable and flexible, allowing it to perform seamlessly on any computer regardless of the machine architecture.

◈ Linux is generally free while the enterprise version that includes corporate support is relatively affordable than Windows server.

◈ If Linux is chosen, there are no commercial vendors enticing you to try out certain products. You have the freedom to choose what works best for your business.

Due to the advantages provided by Linux, it is the reason why it is utilized by organizations, governments and large-scale companies all over the world.

Saturday, 17 February 2018

Any business shopping around for a web hosting solution will no doubt come across terms such as shared hosting, virtual private hosting (VPS), managed hosting and, the latest to enter the lexicon, cloud hosting. Often the holy grail is purported to be, if you can afford it, dedicated hosting, but what exactly are the reasons for choosing a dedicated hosting solution and is it the right fit for you?

What is Dedicated Hosting

Dedicated hosting refers to a scenario in which a website (or unified set of websites) is hosted on its own distinct physical server and therefore does not share any of its hardware or software with any other organisation’s websites. The server itself will usually be leased from a hosting provider and will be physically housed in a data center.

As with shared hosting (and VPS) dedicate hosting packages can be self managed or can include varying elements of managed hosting; from providing control panels which allow the client to request automated maintenance tasks, to having support engineers on call 24/7.

Benefits of dedicated web hosting

Data Center Location

All web sites which live on servers housed in data centers will benefit from the security and ambient conditions (cooling, humidity controls etc) that these data centers offer but there are a number of further benefits that dedicated servers offer in comparison to the varieties of shared servers.

Uptime & Security

Arguably the primary reason for choosing a dedicated server solution is to ensure the uptime and strong performance of your site in the face of demands from high traffic volumes and resource heavy site activity (e.g., from transactions and large databases)

Dedicated hosting packages will usually include redundancy options for hardware and software so that any failures on the server will not result in lost uptime. However, the initial risk of failure is also reduced because your website(s) is not sharing resource with others. As a consequence, the threats that these other sites may present to your site are negated. These threats could originate from, malware, hackers, bad coding or even general maintenance on those sites causing contamination or damage to the underlying server set-up on which yours is based. Many dedicated hosting providers will therefore go as far as guaranteeing 100% uptime in their packages.

Performance

In general, hosting your website in a data center, whether it’s through colocation or leased server space, will allow you to benefit from the economies of scale that the data center can offer on, amongst other things, high bandwidth. To deploy the same resources within your organisation, for the sole use of your organisation, may be prohibitively costly.

However, the fact that your website(s) will have an entire server to itself also means that it gets to employ all of the resources that that server has to offer without having to compete with the demand from other sites. In contrast to sites located on shared servers, it will have its own CPUs and can utilize all of the server’s bandwidth, so that the speed and performance of the site is optimized.

What’s more your site will have access to the server’s full disk space which is ideal for content rich and, in particular, expanding dynamic websites.

Privacy

If your site is likely to obtain or use sensitive or personal data such as bank account details then a dedicated hosting platform will be able to introduce further levels of security. All hosting solutions should have security measures in place to protect against data leaks from your site but by hosting on a physically separate server you are introducing a significant additional barriers.

Bespoke Optimization

A major attraction of dedicated hosting for websites with very particular requirements is that it can allow the client and host to completely configure the set up to achieve a bespoke and fully optimized platform. You can choose, not only the hardware specification you want, but also the software configurations you require to run the site as effectively as possible, including the operating system, database and other applications (whilst also taking advantage of root access to the server). Contrastingly, on shared hosting, you would usually need to choose an existing predefined hardware and/or software package (although, of course such packages are available for dedicated server solutions if desired).

Scaleability

As mentioned above, dedicated servers will often provide the resource headroom to allow a website to function effectively in the event of any fluctuations in the demands being put upon it (e.g., from spikes in traffic or transactions). In addition however, the fact that dedicated server packages usually involve the leasing of a server means that you and your host can respond effectively when there is a further need for these resource to be upgraded without having to purchase an entirely new server, as you would if colocating. What’s more, you aren’t inhibited by the presence of other sites on the server if you need to make changes to hardware to, for example, increase bandwidth or upgrade the RAM or CPUs.

Wrapping Up…

For the above reasons dedicated servers are most often recommended to businesses running ecommerce websites or sites with high volumes of traffic so that they can take advantage of the high levels of both performance and security that dedicated hosting offers. However, it is worth remembering that under the specifications, packages, flexibility and support that each provider offers will vary from one to the next so it is always worth doing your homework and shopping around for a solution that fits you best.

Thursday, 15 February 2018

In the world of web site hosting there are two main types of operating system platforms on which you may host your web site, namely: UNIX and Windows. Each has its own set of unique features, advantages and disadvantages.

While it is difficult to say which one is the better choice, it is not as difficult to answer which is the better choice given your needs. The language which your site is programmed in is what primarily dictates the type of hosting you need.Note: The operating system that you use on your desktop computer (the vast majority of people use some flavor of Windows) has absolutely nothing to do with the one that your host needs to serve your web site. Most personal sites are created with MS FrontPage and even although that is a Microsoft product, it can be hosted perfectly on a UNIX web server with FrontPage Extensions installed.

Stability:

UNIX systems (we actually use Linux but for comparison purposes they are identical) are hands-down the winner in this category. There are many factors here but to name just a couple big ones: in our experience UNIX handles high server loads better than Windows and UNIX machines seldom require reboots while Windows is constantly needing them. Servers running on UNIX enjoy extremely high up-time and high availability/reliability.

Performance:

While there is some debate about which operating system performs better, in our experience both perform comparably in low-stress conditions however UNIX servers under high load (which is what is important) are superior to Windows.

Scalability:

Web sites usually change over time. They start off small and grow as the needs of the person or organization running them grow. While both platforms can often adapt to your growing needs, Windows hosting is more easily made compatible with UNIX-based programming features like PHP and MySQL. UNIX-based web software is not always 100% compatible with Microsoft technologies like .NET and VB development. Therefore if you wish to use these, you should choose Windows web hosting.

Compatibility:

Web sites designed and programmed to be served under a UNIX-based web server can easily be hosted on a Windows server, whereas the reverse is not always true. This makes programming for UNIX the better choice.

Price:

Servers hosting your web site require operating systems and licenses just like everyone else. Windows 2003 and other related applications like SQL Server each cost a significant amount of money; on the other hand, Linux is a free operating system to download, install and operate. Windows hosting results in being a more expensive platform.

Conclusion:

To sum it up, UNIX-based hosting is more stable, performs faster and more compatible than Windows-based hosting. You only need Windows hosting if you are going to developing in .NET or Visual Basic, or some other application that limits your choices.

If you are scrolling through this article right now, the chances are that you are a smart business owner who has just realized that great content and quality products aren’t everything there is to make your online business more successful. To maximize your profits/revenue, improve your SEO ranking, reach out to potential customers, and secure your website from malware and all sorts of attacks, you will need to hire web hosting services.

What is web hosting?

Web hosting is basically a type of Internet hosting service that enables you to make your website accessible via the World Wide Web. Reliable web hosting is a very important part of building a business website. Your customers want to access every single aspect of your business any time of the day and night, and web hosting just makes it happen in the most effective way. Basically, it keeps your website up and running. This service can be renewed from time to time.

The Importance of Web hosting

Here are some good things that can happen when you choose the best hosting for your needs.

Increased Revenue/Maximum Profits Realized

As an online business owner, one of your major priorities is maximizing your profits. If your site happens to go down even for 10 minutes, potential customers will not be able to view your site or learn about the products and services offered. Worse, if you operate an online store, the chances are that you will lose out on potential sales and income. The loss might not be big or significant, but still, it’s a loss of revenue.

High SEO Ranking

What every online business manager wants is to rank his website high on the search engines. Why is a high ranking crucial? A website that appears in the top search results of search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo is highly visible, meaning that potential customers can easily find it when looking for specific products or services. So, when your website is constantly down, your ranking will, as a result, be adversely affected. Also, if your website is slow, your rankings are likely to go down.

By keeping your site up and running, you will always rank high in search engine results.

Protection Against Cyber Attacks

Cyber attacks are becoming a nuisance every day. From malware attacks to hacking, online security has become such a huge issue. Many business owners have even closed shop due to these attacks because once they hit, rebounding can be a bit hard.

Web hosting provides the perfect solution for keeping your website safe and secure from these security threats. A reputable web hosting service will back up all your data to a remote server and restore it after a hacking attempt. Also, the service will put up effective security measures to ensure your site is shielded from all these threats and also offer maintenance and technical support 24/7.

Enhanced Communication

If you maintain separate email accounts for your online accounts, personal correspondence, and business correspondence, your web hosting service will include email accounts that link to your website, keeping them separate from other correspondences and organizing your emails. This will, of course, enhance your business communication. Web hosting will also make your email address much more memorable because it matches your website.

That being said, it’s important that you choose a reliable web hosting service to ensure that your website is accessible 24/7 and that it’s safe and secure to maximize your profits and increase revenue.

Tuesday, 13 February 2018

Why the need to study and compare cloud hosting benefits and drawbacks?

Just like any other hosting platforms, cloud hosting has its inherent characteristics and advantages as well as drawbacks and disadvantages. Before you take the step to decide whether to shift from the traditional web server hosting to cloud hosting, you should be fully aware of the benefits that cloud hosting offers as well as well as the platform’s drawbacks. This should help you make an intelligent decision regarding the type of web host that is well suited to the needs of your website

What benefits can cloud hosting offer you?

One notable benefit of cloud hosting is its SCALABILITY, meaning its ability to be scaled up or down to handle the server load at any given moment. You need not worry about your website going down due to server crashes since there are always other servers ready to pick the slack anytime it is needed. Another notable benefit of cloud hosting is the EASE IN MANAGING your website with the use of its centralized management of network services. This makes things easy to manage and assures a smooth, errorless operation without compromising the quality.

Another notable benefit of cloud hosting is its COST EFFICIENCY. Cloud hosting services bills you only for what you actually used. This means there are no monthly rentals and that you are only billed according to the amount and volume of traffic you received and of the amount of resources you have utilized. This is so beneficial to web sites that constantly experience a variable and fluctuating traffic since you need not dig money from your pockets during the time your website received no traffic.

What are the advantages of cloud hosting?

Cloud hosting brings you the following:

◈ The highest level of website performance which is guaranteed by not just one machine but by multiple machines;
◈ You are guaranteed of more server resources and unlimited storage, including more computing power and more RAM, ensuring you greater speed and power;
◈ As a lot of computers act as one system, you will be assured of a redundant data storage;
◈ There is no single point of failure;
◈ Easier Data backup and recovery;
◈ More flexibility for your website to grow;
◈ You can customize the size of your storage;
◈ Cost efficiency which means it operates at a lower cost compared to other hosting solutions; and
◈ A round-the-clock 24/7 support

What drawbacks can you expect when you use cloud host?

In spite of the benefits and advantages that you can reap from cloud hosting, you need to be aware of some of its drawbacks, risks, issues and disadvantages. These involves, among others:

◈ Technical issues and possible downtime – although it is true that data and information stored in the cloud can be accessed anytime and anywhere, it should be noted that technology is often subjected to outages and other technical issues;

◈ Serious Security Risk – Since you surrender your sensitive information to a cloud service provider, you could be putting your company at a serious security risk;

◈ Prone to Attacks – Nothing in the internet is completely secure and storing all your information on a cloud puts your company at risk and prone to hacking attacks;

◈ Lesser Services – before you make a leap, make sure that your cloud host provides for the same services offered by the traditional hosts.

While cloud hosting can be a big asset to your company if used properly, it can also put your company at risk or even bring it harm if it is misunderstood and used improperly.

Web hosting is necessary for all types of web sites which want to make a presence on the internet. Hosting of websites is offered by many companies at competent prices. One can opt for any company for having ones website hosted on the internet by comparing the services and the prices of the different companies. Web hosting can broadly be classified into shared web hosting, reseller hosting and dedicated hosting. All three vary in terms of the services and the price at which web hosting is offered.

What is reseller hosting?

Reseller hosting can be defined as that type of web hosting in which a web host buys bulk plan from a hosting company. The web host then sub divides the bulk plan into smaller plans and then resells the smaller plans to individual users. The reseller can sell space and bandwidth from a rented dedicated server. Alternatively, the reseller can get permission to sell space and bandwidth from shared server. This type of hosting is the most inexpensive method by which websites can be hosted on the internet.

Reseller hosting is all about affordability, flexibility and reliability. It shows that each and every type or kind of website can easily work well, if this hosting technique is incorporated. Its best feature is that it connects the clients with their webhosts and acts like a connector for them.

Things are not too simple, when you are dealing with this hosting technique, as it requires some basic and clear knowledge of webhosting services before you actually take a start for hosting your own website.

In case you are facing problems because you do not have enough time and budget to host your own website by controlling the servers and data centers, then you do not want to keep yourself in an unmanageable situation. Reseller webhosting can do all this on your part and you can make yourself satisfied with the results.

Classification of the reseller hosting companies

The provider or the reseller host can be classified according to the role played. A reseller host can act as an agent for a company. In this case the customers buy a plan directly from the web hosting company. The plans however have been advertised by the reseller host who gets a commission on the basis of the sales made.

The reseller host in case of reseller hosting can act as a marketer for the web hosting company. He advertises the hosting plans which people buy from him. However, once the hosting plan has been sold, the customers have contact with the web hosting company and not the reseller.

The reseller can work on his own by purchasing large bandwidth and space from the web hosting company. He then sells small spaces and bandwidth to customers and also offers them complete support. In this case the reseller actually acts as a web hosting company.

Is cheap reseller hosting the right way to go?

There are many of us who wish to save money on web hosting. Hence, the growing need for cheap reseller hosting. If you are in the market for reseller hosting be sure to do your research before settling on just any cheap hosting plans. This is a definite must for those of us who are seeking cheap reseller hosting plans. Cheap hosting can be really hard to deal with at times due to its diminished abilities and capacities in comparison to other web hosting plans.

But in this floundering economy we all want to save money anywhere we can. Even when it comes to the reseller hosting solutions we need. And when we choose a less than reputable web host simply for the price, we could be doing our website and business a great disservice.

We all know that we get what we pay for in most cases. Reseller hosting may be more cost effective than a direct cPanel hosting account but may not offer you all you need. And even the lowest ranked web hosting firms would be a better fit than a reseller host in some cases.

Make sure to do a research and choose a reseller hosting plan from a reputable company with quality services.

Why should you choose a reseller hosting plan?

The first and foremost reason of the reseller hosting being an attractive activity is the requirement of low budget. You needn’t spend a lot to initiate the enterprise. The prices of Disk Space and Bandwidth under the reseller hosting packages are quite low. In the initial stages the prices were a bit higher but now with the competition getting intensified, the prices seem to be quite low. Additionally, it will also offer you more feature than the other basic plans. The maintenance charges are very nominal and in case of any technical complexities not the reseller but the parent web hosting company will have to set the things right. If you have even little idea about Linux hosting, master reselling hosting or the top reseller hosting, you can imagine the kind of benefits you can harvest through reseller hosting.

Better control and generating income

The reseller packages allow you to access the features enabling you to control disk space usage. You can thus closely control and manage all the aspects of your website. Reseller packages again allow you to either use the full space under reseller package or sell it to the different users at your own desired rate. Reseller hosting thus offers you the advantages of low price rate, more space, low maintenance, closer control and income generation. You can use the full space for yourself or sell some part of the space.

Benefits of reseller hosting

With reseller hosting, you do not have the hassles that a web hosting service has, including the security aspects. All you need to worry about is the amount of space you want to allow your customers to have for their website. It is important that you take into account customer needs in order for your business to grow. For those businesses who are already involved in the website industry, reseller hosting would be a great step up because you would have the experience that would help you create a reliable service.

Saturday, 10 February 2018

Starting a web hosting company is one of the easiest ways to make money online; however, there are several things to be considered before you start off your online venture, so as to ensure success in the short, as well as long run.

One needs to worry about lot many things if they decide to do everything on their own, rather than just generating customers to sustain business. Hence, it's advisable to start with minimal investment, and not spend on setting-up the infrastructure right away; dedicated hosting or reseller hosting packages the way to go, in most of the cases.

Thinking Beyond Shared Hosting

When you want to provide hosting services to your customers, you can't live with shared hosting plans or free hosting choices.

Unlike starting a personal blog, starting a web hosting company requires you to set up the required infrastructure, or rely on the bigger players, by purchasing a reseller/VPS/dedicated server from them.

So, let's discuss about each of the choices to start a web hosting company without spending a lot of money up-front.

Reseller Hosting Packages

To start a web hosting business, one of the easiest options is to purchase reseller hosting packages offered by the top web hosting providers.

One of the biggest advantages of buying a reseller hosting package is the sheer fact that you don't need to spend on infrastructure, technical/customer support, billing, as well as maintenance costs.

However, it's important to pick a reliable reseller host so that your customers don't get disappointed with frequent down-times, poor technical/customer support, and/or other hiccups.

Moreover, reseller hosting won't be able to suffice to your needs for a longer time frame; a VPS or dedicated hosting plans always works better, though you may still start off with a reseller hosting plan if you don't have enough funds to try out a dedicated hosting plan.

Choosing a VPS Package

If you're interested to start off in style, and don't mind paying a hefty price for it, then a VPS package is an ideal choice.

With a VPS (virtual private host), you have the root level access to the web server, which allows you to run several web apps that can't be otherwise executed in case of shared hosting environment.
Secondly, VPS provides higher security levels, and no other sites are hosted on your hosting space, as opposed to the shared hosting concept.

Lastly, VPS gives control of a dedicated server plan, but it is just slightly costlier than a shared hosting plan, not to mention efficient management and network monitoring mechanism.

Taking a Dedicated Server

When you've got extensive requirements at hand, you need to look at a dedicated server necessarily. However, this may not be a good idea right away for those starting out a new web hosting company under tight budget.

But, if you've got a good marketing team, and sure of getting plenty of customers soon enough, you should definitely consider putting your money on a dedicated server rather than starting out with a VPS, and upgrading when it really becomes unavoidable.

What's more, with a dedicated host, you don't have to worry about security, and performance of the server either!

So, I'd recommend you to start off with a dedicated hosting plan right away.

Testing Everything Before You Start

It is quite crucial that you test everything before you even think of starting your business, and getting the first customer. Whether you take a dedicated web hosting plan, or manage with a VPS/reseller hosting plan, you must test how things work out by registering a couple of domains, and setting up billing operations for a dummy customer.

Additionally, you must try to contact the technical support team of your potential host to check if they respond properly, and within a reasonable time frame. Once you're sure that everything is smooth enough, you're good to start your own web hosting company, and reap the benefits without really spending a penny on the infrastructure.

Web hosting forms the core of all kinds of e-business opportunities today. The reason is simple; every website needs a web server to function, and hosting space to secure the files required for its functioning. Web hosting is a big business opportunity in itself, though not too many succeed in deciphering this simple secret!

By making use of reseller hosting plans, you can literally start a brand new web hosting business without investing a fortune and without having any prior expertise.

Needless to mention, no matter how simple it sounds, it is hard work to kick off any business in the world and not everyone's attempts pay off; having said that, if you go by the simple steps described here, you have all the chances in the world to succeed in this field.

1. Choose the Right Reseller Hosting Plan

The reseller hosting plan needs to be chosen wisely, during the initial stages because that's how you'd gain access to wholesale server resources, which can be bifurcated at a later stage, as per your convenience, and then they can be dedicated to your customers as per their needs.

Hence, it becomes a matter of paramount importance that you pay attention to the attributes and features your plan offers before you actually put your money on it. If you buy bulk server resources, you'll naturally be getting big discounts and thus you will be able to tap more profit from your clients.

Yet another thing to be kept in mind is the reliability and reputation of the source, you are buying the hosting reseller plans from.

A reliable source will offer great service, and their reputation will help you grow your business faster, while cheap reseller hosting plans come with their share of pain.

2. Coming Up With Effective Hosting Plans

The key here is to be able to make your web hosting package different from most of the other offerings in the market.

You need to step into the customer's shoes and think realistically what would suit you... The best way is to include more and more services as freebies in your hosting package early on, which are otherwise offered at extra cost by even the top web hosting service providers. As an example, you can offer site creation and SEO in the same package as web hosting, at no extra price; but, again you need to learn how to manipulate the pricing, without letting the customers sense the fact that there's some extra cost involved towards the freebies that you're offering.

3. Branding and Promoting Your Business

Some of the reseller hosting plans give you the liberty of controlling the customer's hosting accounts' control panel and thus you can put the logo of your company over there for promotion and branding. This will show professionalism on your part, which will, in turn, impress your clients, and they might stay longer with you.

You also get some free of cost advertising credits in some of the reseller hosting plans allowing your customers to promote their business across the social networking platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, Bing etc. You can use these free credits for targeting specific audiences through pay per click advertising, which appear either at the top of the search result or on the side of search results.

Thursday, 8 February 2018

When you start to run your own online business, launch a website for your digital presence, or simply decide to begin an eCommerce store, you'll have plenty of important decisions to make. Though your choices will range all the way from what kind of graphics you want to use, to which plugins you'd like to install, the most important thing you'll need to figure out first, is what kind of host you're going to be working with.

Without a host, your website would be non-existent. That's because your host provider gives you a place to store all the necessary files that you need to display your website. While you'll have a few options available to choose from when selecting your web host, two of the most common and popular solutions are the "dedicated server" and the VPS host. Here, we're going to look at the pros and cons of each in more detail, to help you make an informed decision.

What Are The Pros and Cons of VPS Hosting?

If you decide to use a VPS host or a virtual private server hosting account, then the resources within your server will be divided up amongst a range of customers. A VPS is a lot like a home computer that has an account for many different users. Though everyone uses the machine in a different way, they're all storing data on the same hard drive.

A Virtual Privat Server can come with a high, or low-end package, depending on what you want to get out of your host. The costs can vary depending on the features that you want to include. Since VPS servers only have a few hosting environments to choose from, they typically lack the complete control and customisation options that come with a dedicated account. However, setting them up is easier for those who only have a basic website to launch.

This hosting style will be great for anyone who just wants to launch a simple website and doesn't expect to get a huge amount of traffic. If a basic shared hosting solution doesn't give you exactly what you need, a VPS is a next step up, with more extensive options for customisation.

Pros:

◈ Easy to set up
◈ Cheaper than a dedicated server for most businessesCons:
◈ You're sharing your resources, so features will be limited
◈ Disruption is more likely if someone abuses their server
◈ Not as customisable as a dedicated server

What Are The Pros and Cons of Dedicated Server Hosting?

A dedicated server, on the other hand, is a server that's specifically dedicated to just one person or customer. That means that you have the rights to use all the resources available as you see fit. You can configure your hosting environment in any way that suits you. However, this is obviously a lot more of an expensive option than a virtual private server.

Dedicated servers are usually only a good option for people who are expecting to get more than 500,000 visitors to their website each month. You'll also need the right technical staff available to maintain your server and optimise it on your behalf. Since dedicated servers are almost always a huge expense for any business, if you're new to launching your company online, it might be worth starting with a VPS and working your way up when you know for sure just how much traffic you're going to get. This will also allow you to make sure that you're generating enough revenue to support a private server.

Pros:

◈ The biggest advantage of a dedicated server is that won't be affected by anyone else's server use because the system belongs entirely to you.
◈ Completely customisable
◈ Not as many restrictions or limitations than a shared serverCons:

◈ Harder to set up for a beginner
◈ Much more expensive than a VPS

Choosing the Right Host Solution

There's no right or wrong answer when it comes to effective hosting. Instead, your choices will depend on what you consider to be best for your company, your customers, and your website. Everyone has their own needs, and you'll need to take stock of what each host can offer you before you decide.

Generally, the more you know about the requirements of your website and what you need to run your system efficiently, the easier it will be for you to make an informed choice about your host. Remember, websites with heavy traffic and broad online stores are generally better suited to dedicated servers, whereas smaller websites are great for personal websites and blogs.

A web server has to work non-stop round the year and it consumes a lot of energy in the process.

Now think of a datacenter that houses a number of web servers, and it won’t be difficult to imagine the scale of operations that goes in to keep it working. It is said that the amount of energy consumed by the US datacenters is equivalent to that consumed by 5 million houses put together. If all of this energy is to come from conventional, non-renewable sources like burning of coals, gas fired furnaces and generators, obviously you as a responsible netizen are not going to appreciate it.

What is Green web hosting?

The huge amount of energy used by data centers to keep your website up is usually produced from carbon emitting generators. (A carbon emitting generator is one that burns non-renewable fuels to generate electricity and gives out too much of carbon and other pollutants.)

A green web host strives to minimize the energy consumption of their servers in the first place. They usually employ machines that consume less energy and cuts energy usage wherever possible. Apart from this, many of these hosts generate energy from wind, solar and other renewable resources to power their servers. Solar and wind power are gaining huge popularity nowadays and are ideal sources of energy for green web hosts.

Other than saving on energy, green web hosts also have a safe equipment disposal plan. Computers and related equipment have a lot of toxic substances used in them. Green web hosts also make sure that damaged and old computer equipment are disposed properly in a way that won’t affect our environment. Most of these electronic components can be recycled and green web hosts just do that with their machines.

How does it work?

Most of the green web hosts buy REC or ‘renewable energy certificate’ in order to outweigh their normal energy usage. It’s not just the energy they save that makes them green; these certificates they buy too play an important role. For the power usage that is vital for a web host to work, they buy into projects aimed at eliminating carbon from the atmosphere and that’s what RECs are. RECs are issued for buying into renewable energy generation projects such as hydroelectricity, wind power and solar power. Some projects are involved in planting more trees to reduce the carbon footprint and the other harmful effects of pollution. There are some green hosts that plant their data center surroundings with trees for the same cause. Green web hosting providers also use ‘energy star’ approved servers and other energy efficient hardware to cut down their power consumption.

Why go green?

The number of websites online is sky-rocketing every year and to power all these websites, more electricity becomes vital. Most of the conventional web hosts that you are familiar with probably consume electricity that is made from carbon emitting generators and this could take a toll on our planet. Conservation of energy is becoming more and more essential and most companies have started doing their part to save energy. Web hosts are one of the biggest energy consumers among the tech world and if they can be green, what can be better than that? By choosing a green web host as your hosting provider, you could be doing your bit towards saving our nature and preserving it for future generations.

Is that host you found actually green?

When you want to do your part towards a greener earth, it’s not easy to find the hosting provider that actually is green and concerned about our nature. Not all the web hosts that have a green badge on their site are truly green. It is very easy to claim to be green on the website and you may not know what’s actually going on down there.

However not all of them are fake, there really are eco-friendly web hosts that generate their own energy from renewable sources to stay awake. Such web hosts are few in number and they use solar panels, wind generators and other harmless methods to power their servers. These green web hosts don’t make any negative impact to our planet and even take up many carbon reduction projects themselves. They are truly green and it would be great if you could go with one such host.

Here’s what you should look for when you want to go with a real green host and not just a fake one:

◈ Check their certificates: Many different agencies offer certificates, so it’s important to cross check the authenticity of the certificate that the web host has.

◈ Go through their policy carefully: It’s not enough to just go with a host that claims itself green, go through their policy statements and understand what they actually do to be green.

Monday, 5 February 2018

Shared hosting is the most popular type of web hosting. But that doesn’t mean it is a flawless hosting plan and can be used by everyone. In fact its shortcomings should not be called as drawbacks because they are part of its features. Shared web hosting is designed for a particular segment of websites with unique needs. It is the best plan for these sites but becomes obsolete when these websites grow out of their leagues.

Here we will elaborate some of the main cons of shared web hosting services. These flaws should help you determine if this is the league to which your site belongs.

Security Concerns

When your website is hosted on a shared server, there are so many other sites with which you will be sharing the space and other resources. Therefore, you will always be facing security issues. Share servers are highly likely to be attached by hackers. Even if there is a malicious activity in any part of the server, it is going to affect all the websites on that server. So your website will be sailing a ship with many others and if any of them digs a hole, all the websites will go down together.

Performance Issues

Typically, the web host will assign a maximum limit to each account on a server. If you cross that, for example the bandwidth limit, you will be stealing the resources from other accounts. So if multiple websites on the server experience an increase in traffic, your website is going to suffer from lack of resources. This can easily translate into performance issues such as poor load time and response delays.

Many web hosts sell their shared hosting plans so cheap because they crowd hundreds or thousands of websites on the same server. All the resources like the drive, RAM and CPU are shared by all these sites. You could only imagine how your site’s performance is going to get affected by the demands made by other sites on these resources.

Software Restrictions

When your website is hosted on a shared server, you are limited by the software and applications offered by the host. You don’t have any authority to install a software of your choice. Whether it is the operating system or the security software, you are bound by the limitations laid down by the web host. It is the shared host that decides what software packages that will be used which can be very prohibitive when growing and expanding a website.

Shared hosting is a good choice if you are just starting out on the internet and have a small website that does not receive a high volume of traffic. However, there will be a time where you will need more server resources and flexibility so you will need to upgrade to VPS or Dedicated server so you no longer suffer slow page loading times, throttling or server downtime.

Customer Support Limitations

Shared hosting comes with a certain level of customer support. But someone using a VPS or dedicated server is going to get advanced level of technical and priority support. So there is a good chance that your website could be down for minutes or even hours until the technical support gets around to resolve the issue.

Thus, there are several limitations to shared hosting despite the fact that it is used by the largest percentage of websites. As mentioned earlier, these drawbacks can be seen as flaws only in cases where the needs of your website have exceeded the offerings of shared hosting. Yet there are certain limitations to shared hosting, which are not present in dedicated or VPS hosting.

Having multiple domains means having more than one website for the same, or a similar, company. Some online businesses think having more than one website (domain name) might seem like a good idea, especially if you have a product or service that appeals to different audiences. A site for each target audience makes it possible to customize the messaging, sales materials, and other marketing strategies that hook a particular potential customer. For example, a website for engineers will use a different approach than one for school teachers, so a cross-over product (e.g., cleaning supplies) might be difficult to pitch on a single site.

Taking a narrow view that only considers search engine optimization (SEO), the short answer is multiple domains can hurt your page ranking. There is no benefit to having several keyword-rich domains pointing to your website. SEO is done on a single domain name and incorporates many things such as site popularity, the amount and type of content on the site, keywords in meta and title fields, and paying for a spot in the search engine database.

However, there are some benefits when taking into account the functionality of the site and how it supports your goals. It’s important to consider the role of your website (or sites) when choosing to use more than one URL. If your website serves a simple purpose, such as a portfolio of work samples, using multiple pages on the same site will likely be adequate. If the business model is a bit complicated, then it’s worth exploring how to leverage several sites. But a few words of caution at the start:

More work – Each site will require unique content, regular updates, and SEO attention, so this will mean more time.

More cost – All of that extra work will cost staff time, tech support, and outside vendors will also require two paychecks. There can be some economies of scale for hosting and other services, but that needs to be weighed against the value added to the goals for the sites.

Organization – More than just scheduling regular maintenance and content updates, you’ll have to make sure your marketing messages are consistent across all platforms, including the websites.

The Pros

So when does using multiple sites make sense?

A Single Business with Diverse Audiences

Any marketing or sales professional will tell you that one-size does not fit all when it comes to communicating with different people. Each group has its own set of needs and expectations about what products or services will do for them. When a diversity of messages are required, separate sites makes it possible to tailor content as well as approach an individual group.

For example, a company that supports schools with a diversity of resources might have product lines specifically for K-12 teachers, high school teachers, and college professors. Each audience has a distinctly different professional style and educational criteria to meet. A separate site for each group will avoid the need for the visitor to sort through any irrelevant information to find “their” material. This audience-specific approach can also be helpful for cultivating links with other sites, which does help search engine rankings.

Niche Website for Showcasing Specialization

Niche websites can be much more appealing over a large, generic site. Larger sites run the risk of having too much overlap with a competing site, which diminishes the likelihood of adding links. Niche sites – which don’t necessarily have to be small – allow for the kind of specialization that can be helpful to complement the information (or services) of other sites. This can support the development of deep, topic-specific content making your site a valuable (and linkable) resource. From a marketing and sales standpoint, these niche sites can support niche products and services

High Turnover

In some industries, name changes are common. A financial service firm or law firm might change partners – adding a new name or removing the name of a retiree. If an affiliation exists with a parent company, such as a real estate broker with multiple state or regional offices, a rebranding effort might dictate a change. In these and other cases, multiple domain names can be helpful to leverage an established identity or geographic presence.

Multiple Countries, Multiple Languages

If you’re doing business in multiple countries, it might be worth having separate sites for each geographic location. Localizing the colors, images, and content to match the social and cultural norms will make the sites more user-friendly. And matching local preferences and habits can make the URL easier to find.

The Cons

The issues related to maintain multiple sites are as much practical as they are SEO related.Ranking – There is zero benefit to having multiple sites. And there could be some negatives, such as garnering bad links to phishing sites, which require significant technical troubleshooting.

Can’t find you – People tend to look up a company by name, so multiple domain names can make it difficult (not to mention confusing) for a prospect or customer to find what they need.

Loss of authority – Longevity is necessary for a domain name; changing it hurts the site’s credibility.Expenses – The time and money required for building and maintenance (including fixing problems) increase with the number of sites you have to maintain.Diluted identity – Depending on your brand, splitting off products and services on different sites could undermine the power and market influence of your company.

Merging issues – If you decide later to move to a single website, the migration needs to be done correctly (which means more expense).

A single website can support multiple product lines and services as long as the site is easy to navigate. So it’s important to keep that primary motivation in mind, not the ease or low cost of design maintenance.

Each website owner is going to have a unique combination of goals and priorities. Those, not a fabulous web hosting package, need to guide this kind of domain decision.

Saturday, 3 February 2018

PHP is a popular scripting language that is designed to produce dynamic web pages (e.g. login pages, shopping carts).

PHP code is embedded into the html source of a website, and is run on the web hosting server rather than on the browser. So, if you look at the source code of a PHP web page, the code that you see is just plain HTML. Since PHP is a universal scripting language, websites created with PHP are fully compatible with popular mobile devices like iPhone and iPad. A large number popular websites, including Facebook and Wikipedia, are written in PHP.

WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla are the most commonly-used open source content management systems written in PHP. A lot of webmasters choose these three platforms to build their websites because of their flexibility. There are a lot of themes and plugins created for these three platforms and webmasters can create professional looking websites based on these systems with just a few clicks. Also, their themes are customizable, so webmasters can change the coding to fit their needs.

PHP and Web Hosting

As mentioned before, PHP is decoded on the web hosting server side. Therefore, if the website is written in PHP, it needs to be hosted on a server that has PHP processor module. It is important to check with your web hosting provider if the hosting plan you are using supports PHP.

Looking for a free web hosting solution is an imperative decision. Try to identify a reliable web host can be a daunting task especially with so many service providers and options available nowadays. Throw in the feature sheets and promises, the task can be that much more intimidating.

But it doesn't have to be. Let's take a look at some of the most common features a good free web hosting provider should offer:

DISK SPACE AND BANDWIDTH

Disk space refers to the amount of storage space assigned to you by the free web hosting provider. This space will be used to store your web site files, including text, images, audio, etc. files you use for your website.

Bandwidth refers to the amount of traffic that is allowed to access and leave your website. Access means every time a visitor types in your website name in their browser. Leave means every time a visitor receives something from your website, whether it be viewing a photo, listening to an audio clip or downloading a file.

For example, if your website has a lot of graphics (ie. photographs) then you will require higher storage and greater bandwidth.

WEBSITE CREATOR AND FTP

If this is your first website and you have limited or no scripting experience, then look for a free web hosting provider that offers a free website creating application where you can create your website simply by choosing a template and adding in your own text and images.

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. It is the protocol for transferring your website files from your computer to your free web hosting server, or vice versa. This allows you to upload your finished website files (including images and other multimedia files) from your computer to your service provider's server. It also allows you to download your files from your web hosting server back to your computer. A good free web hosting provider should offer 24/7 unrestricted FTP access.

EMAIL

Yes, your free web hosting provider should provide you with email services - so that you can setup @yourdomain.com email accounts. In addition to a webmail interface (so you can login and manage your emails using your web browser), the email service should also include POP3 and SMTP access so you can setup and access your @yourdomain.com emails using your mobile devices.

SUPPORT AND UPTIME

You should always choose a free web hosting service with free, reliable telephone and email support.

While no host can offer a 100% guaranteed uptime (think problems out of their control, ie. city power outage), they should provide "just-in-case" measures to limit website and email downtime to a minimal. These measures may include 24/7 server and network monitoring, redundant hardware and network configurations, and onsite backup power supply. While you might not completely understand the technicalities of these, look to see if your free web hosting provider has these listed somewhere on their website. If not, ask them about it.

PRICING

If you're looking for a free web hosting provider, then you should expect to pay absolutely nothing for all the basic features listed above. You shoudn't have to compromise pricing with banner ads. Any free web hosting providers that forces ads on your website is a no-no.

Thursday, 1 February 2018

If you’re looking to set your business up with a dedicated or virtual private server, you’ve a very important decision to make, perhaps even more important than which hosting company you choose. It involves how much money you’re willing to spend in the interest of convenience. More importantly, it involves how much work you intend to put into your server – and how much control you’ll have over its operation, besides.

I am speaking, of course, about choosing between managed and unmanaged hosting – literally, choosing between having a host run a server for you and running that same server yourself. It’s important that you understand the differences – and strengths – of each approach as well as your business’s resources and needs. Otherwise, you might end up making the wrong choice.

We’re here today to ensure that doesn’t happen.

What’s The Difference?

Let’s use an analogy here. It’s not a perfect one, but it’s enough to suit our purposes. Imagine that you’ve a choice between two different car rental agencies.

The first one offers you a car that you can tweak and modify to your heart’s content, and at a price that’s an absolute steal. The only stipulation, of course, is that you’ll be responsible for keeping it running. They’ll help you if anything goes wrong, but day-to-day maintenance and upkeep is your job entirely; and it’s up to you to determine if anything’s gone wrong – a tall order if you don’t possess any automotive knowledge.

The second rental firm takes a different approach. Like the first, they let you customize your car in whatever fashion you see fit – but this time, the company will do all the work for you. They’ll also handle all the technical stuff involved in keeping your vehicle running, and even drive you where you want to go. Although this costs a fair bit more than the first company, it allows you to focus entirely on your destination – you don’t even need to worry about keeping your gas tank full.

An unmanaged hosting provider is a lot like the first company in this analogy. You’ve got root access to your server, and the freedom to configure it however you want – a privilege for which you generally pay less. Unfortunately, if you don’t have any experience in server administration, it can be next to impossible to successfully deal with an unmanaged hosting plan.

Managed hosting, meanwhile, is the second rental company. Although you’ve some say in how your server is run – what apps are installed, what OS you’re using, et-cetera – your host handles most of the technical stuff. Though that tends to cost significantly more, it also means you can focus entirely on your core business – you needn’t spend any time on configuration or monitoring.

Which One Is Best?

So, now that you know the difference between the two choices, which one is the best fit for your business? There’s…actually no easy answer to that. It depends on a wide variety of different factors.

You Should Choose Managed Hosting If…

◉ You’re a small business with a limited IT department or very little administrative experience
◉ You’ve the budget to shell out a little extra
◉ You aren’t confident you can dedicate enough time to server configuration
◉ You’d rather focus on your business without having to maintain a server
◉ You prefer to outsource the management of your IT infrastructure

You Should Choose Unmanaged Hosting If…

◉ You or your IT department is experienced in server administration.
◉ Your IT budget is fairly light, and you don’t have the cash for a managed plan.
◉ You know you’ve the time to maintain a server
◉ You aren’t comfortable with the idea that someone else might have access to your information.

A Tough Choice To Make

The decision between managed and unmanaged isn’t one you should make lightly.

If you’re going to settle on an unmanaged server, you need to make absolutely certain you’ve the administrative experience and time to properly maintain it. Running a server is not an easy job. If you don’t have the time or skill to devote to it, you might as well not shell out for hosting at all.

Similarly, if you need root access and control, a managed server may not be the right choice, although Future Hosting are one of very few hosting companies that allow managed hosting clients root access to their servers. Managed servers tend to cost more, and you’ll often have less control over how your server is operated. Unmanaged servers are all about freedom – managed servers put convenience first.